The use of outdoor gas-fired barbecue grills has substantially increased in recent years. While most barbecue grills burn charcoal briquettes, propane gas fire grills are gaining more and more popularity because they are easier and cleaner to work with and felt to be less expensive to operate long term.
Inventors and manufacturers have been searching for the best means to distribute the high heat potential from the gas heat source to consistently achieve better tasting food. Most grills have multiple burners below a bed of permanent briquettes or some form of metal plate, which are intended to better distribute the high heat.
One of the biggest problems with present grills and prior art is the relatively high cooking temperatures, reaching temperatures of well over three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Cooking at high temperatures creates hot spots on the grill, results in cooking the food unevenly, results in burning the food, drying the food out and makes it very difficult to cook large pieces of meat, poultry or fish which require a longer cooking time.
While the art attempts to collect and then burn the grease and natural juice drippings to impart a better flavor on the food, it is believed that the better approach is to cook at lower temperatures and thereby retain more of the natural juices and that this results in a better tasting food product.
Recent studies conducted by the American Cancer Society suggest that cooking at high temperatures increases the risk of cancer. The studies indicate that amino acids and creatinine, which are naturally found in animal foods, react during the cooking process to form heterocyclic aromatic amines, which may increase the risk of cancer. The studies further suggest that higher levels of these substances are found when meat is cooked at higher temperatures.
Further, the prior art has heretofore been unable to reduce the energy required to cook food to the same degree that this invention does.